In the time following Jesus’ death, one of the first house church gatherings took place in this chapter of Acts at a man named Cornelius’ house.
God shows up! Holy Spirit falls on the people! They were baptized …
I love the idea of house churches! Hope has started several in the past eight years that we call Local Sites. They are volunteer-led worshiping communities that meet in towns that aren’t near any of our current campuses. These are vibrant, spirit-filled groups of people who were tired of worshiping online by themselves and wanted to gather in community for worship. So beautiful! Want a glimpse of the origins of this type of ministry? Look no further than Acts 10.
In this passage, Peter ends up being called to the house of a man named Cornelius, a Roman officer. The writer of Acts calls Cornelius a “God-fearing man” (Acts 10:2). He is visited by an angel who instructs him to summon Peter to his house. And when God shows up through Peter, big things happen!
A couple of things to note … Cornelius was a Gentile, and there were societal rules about the Jews and Gentiles hanging out. God tells Peter to ignore those rules because God makes it clear that spreading the Good News is more important. Cornelius invites his family and friends to “church.” He asks Peter to preach and Peter responds by telling them all about the story of Jesus and it’s power for them. That message is received and the Holy Spirit falls upon all the listeners, amazing those who were with Peter. In response to that, Cornelius and all of those in attendance are baptized. His whole household! You see? Big things!
What can we learn from this? Two things: First, church can happen anywhere! It doesn’t always have to be in an established building, even though we have six of those to choose from at Hope. It can happen in YMCAs and other rec buildings. It can happen at golf courses and movie theaters and community centers, or in the basement of a restaurant. The second thing we learn is that when the people gather for worship, God shows up! It is not church-lite … it is CHURCH! And God wants to do BIG things through his people! So please continue to pray for our little upstart worshiping communities we call Local Sites. What a blessing it is to be a church that brings the Good News to those in need!
Reflection:
- What does church look like to you? How did it look in the first century?
- What can we learn from small expressions of church like the one in Acts 10?